I do not smoke or drink. I do not chew or do drugs. I buy one Lottery Ticket, one, each time we go to town. That is once a week or every 10 day. Between the one Lottery Ticket and an occasional Scratch Off, that is the extent of our gambling. I am frugal to the extreme. We live waaaaay out on the prairie and NEED horses. Need. We also live way out here so that we can have horses and other animals. So here is the story of my New Equine 2011.

When we lost Missy, my sweet reliable wonderful little mare, I knew we needed to get more then just one rideable horse again. It was time to have a few again that we could/can ride. The type you can put people on and not worry about. Deron and I have been teaching people to ride (basic lessons) since we have had horses together. We want to be able to do that again. So. I pursueded Deron that we needed three. Then I got an email from a friend in WI, Traci, who hosts an organized ride at their place every year. Deron and I used to so love the N WI organized rides and all the good people there that attend them! So I had this idea...... Get WI horses, go to the ride, visit our friends there, and have a vacation we have not had in OVER ten years! The photo here is of Whinney, a horse I bought in WI site unseen.

So I started praying and planning. I asked a couple of people in WI if they could help me find horses and they were happy to! Sharon Keller and her daughters bent over backwards looking and going and checking out horses for us. When we found them they went to look at them, ride them and picked them up with their trailer, spent time with them, called the vet out for the necessary health checks and papers I need for travel,

I prayed and do pray daily for our animals (here) their health and safety as well as our safety around them. So I added to the prayer that I needed three horses. Three safe, not too old, healthy safe horses. It was not long I got an email from Sharon saying that if I wanted another Free Donkey I could have him.... more on Casper later. I also prayed we could find these good safe well broke healthy horses for the money, or I should say, small amount of money, we had to spend.

I could go on and on about God and Donkeys, but this page is about getting the equine in 2011. Please have a look at our other website www.bibledonkeys.com

Not just a Beatle's song line, it is true to life for most if not all of us. I am blessed with unbelievable friends in N WI. When I told friends in WI that we were hoping to come and buy horses, four asked us to stay with them, six asked us to please set aside time for them (one on one), three offered to help us find horses, two offered a place to keep our horses. One combed horse ads right along with me (from afar, in WI) and even took out a "Wanted Trail Horse" ad. I sure miss all of our WI friends. The area we were from, N WI, the people there are just good hearten generous people.

There is a lot of "reading between the lines" or knowing how "horse people" word things that needs to be scrutinized when reading horse ads. You also have to ask "Is that a recent photo?" Especially for older horses. Since I was shopping on a very tight budget, this became especially important for me.

When you go through horse ads on some of the site, by State, they have one on top of another. So when scanning there is the photo of the horse, short description, town the horse is in, how much the horse is. I learned early not to scan down the horse photos. The ones I liked where between $1500 and $25,000, out of my price range for sure. So then I started going by towns. Not the way to do it either. So like eating corn on the cob, my eyes learned to scan back and forth at an incredible rate of speed. I learned to read backwards too. From price to town and a quick glance of the photo.

But I really did contact quite a few people with real ideas of "this might be the horse". Many of those ads were not current. Some people would answer in just one line, like, and no capitals or grammar at all, (who am I to talk about grammar, ey?) but they would say "yes broke to ride". And that after I had sent a list of questions. When that happened, I moved on.

I also talked to a LOT of people about their horses on the phone. That was harder then finding them. Remember the "Can you hear me now?" commercials on TV? Well, we still can not hear him. We get terrible reception out here and they type of phone does not matter. I guess I should not complain, when we first moved here, there was NO service for the first two years.

Unless you have spent the time buying a horse 1000 or more miles away from where you live, and then on a tight budget, you have no idea how nerve racking it is. I bet, without exaggeration, including the trip to the Horse Auction here in NW SD, I bet, I would put big money on, that I looked at 3500 horses in just over two weeks time. Each one might have been a candidate. Each horse was given a quick/fast conformation look, then the questions in my head for each one "How broke?", "How tall", "How much?" "Health papers or do we need to get them?" "How does it load in a trailer?" Then the emails back and fourth with owners. The long list of who was who so that when the owners wrote back I would know which of the horses they were talking about. The list of names and prices and anything I could get on them. <sigh> Truly a lot of work.

Well the truth is I bought them ALL site unseen. But for most, all but one, I had Sharon and her daughters to look at, and ride, for me. THAT makes all the difference. Whinny is the exception. But if you would have talked to the owner, who I thought sounded like an honest person that really cares about her animals. I felt good about her right away. That made me feel better about the horse. If you knew the deal I got, you would have tried to beat me to her. That is not me on the horse in the photos. These are the photos from the ad on the Internet. (I just want to know? Did the person that named her call their dog "Bark"?)

I think that Sharon and I saw this ad with in a few minutes or an hour of one another. Or as I remember anyway. I sent her so many links, she sent me so many links. This gelding sounded good, looked good, has his current coggins and health papers, and this would be a horse for Deron. Sharon and her daughters went and looked at, get ready for this name, Duke Ridge Melmin, (no, not registered) right away. They liked him. Deron liked what he could see and the horse was the right price. Duke, or a, Ridge, or is it Melmin, is a broke to ride 2 y/o that has already been on a WI Organized Ride. As far as the name, Deron dose not care for any of them and has come up with a few that the gelding will be changed to. He is leaning toward old Roman names. Melissa, Sharon's daughter that has been working with the Colt calls him "Hey Boy" from a movie she watched. But boy, would you not agree with me that this Red Dunn is going to be big and beautiful! We actually bought this one first. Well, after we said yes to Casper. I purchased Whinny the day after we bought this gelding. So I had three equine, just not three horses.

Deron named him Lucius Vorenus, after Lucius Vorenus, a Historical Roman Soldier. We watched "Rome" the series and that is how the name came about for the horse.

Keller's helped and stayed with me on this venture from day one until we had more then three and then on to get them ready to travel. These are photos of Lacey. The owner contacted Sharon with a great description and these photos of a horse JUST THE SIZE I LIKE! This horse is one that should be a good size for almost anyone to ride, goes along well and look at her face. I love the sweet soft face. AND! They say she is broke to drive. The price was very right and Sharon loaded this one up into her trailer for us too.

Somewhere along the way, Sharon also found a Standard, if not Large Standard Size Pinto Donkey, and the Pinto Pony below.

Deron and I live way out, so far that rural means they live in town for us, on the prairie. We really do need horses for our safety. We are 6.4 miles back on this soil they call Gumbo. I call it Dinosaur poop. When it gets wet, there is not way, No Way, you can drive on it. So in an emergency, we need horses. There is also our head health, I mean mentally of course. We live 51 miles from town in either direction. Not a lot to do here. So, we enjoy riding out here. We love to find a new pile of fossil pile hills. We bring home fossils in our saddle bags.

When the/this venture first started, I received a note from Sharon, would I like to have a gelded Donkey named Casper. I did the happy dance. I have a donkey named Abby that came from Keller's that I adore! I ride her, we taught her to drive, I taught her some tricks and she taught me a few. I have been saying since Abby came into my life "If I could find another like this one, I would get it in a split second!" So I am thrilled. When I heard the name Casper, with that name how could he not be friendly, I thought perhaps he was white. Sharon said he is a Pinto. OH HOW I LOVE PINTOS! In Donkey terms, it/Pintos is/are called "Spotted Ass". We also pronounce his name the Biblical way, "Jasper" as in one of the stones in the Priest Breastpiece Exodus 39:13.

I have a website(s) devoted to donkeys called www.bibledonkeys.com and www.biblicaldonkey.com

Can you just hear the song "Man, I'd Like To Have That Pinto Pony" in your head? Don't know it? Look for it on the Internet, you will get a kick out of it. I love that song. You see, my favorite color on a horse, Paints and Pintos! Sorrel and White especially. So Sharon offered me a little Sorrel and White Pinto Pony that has a filly at her side (Sharon's daughter is keeping the filly, it was her 16th birthday gift - How KOOOL is that?) and probably, most likely the Pinto Pony Mare is bred back for next year. As much as I WANT that pony, I really do not NEED it or really have the time I would like to put into her. She and the baby next year. Oh wait! Next year! Next year I MIGHT just have the time. I might be able to take the time.

Here are photos Melissa sent to me. It shows the Pinto Pony's right and left sides..... I LOVE IT! As well as Moon Dancer, the filly, in her little purple halter. The Painted Pony's name, and she is a mare/girl/pretty little girl, is Harley. Harley? Hmmmmmm? Sharon and Melissa call her "Charlie".

I thought the pony was a Shetland, Sharon says she is much bigger then that....oh my! Can you see her pulling a cart? Or our little wagon beside her next years baby? Who, in fact I hope it tooooo large for the wagon.

I have renamed the little Pinto Mare "Dream Maker".

Round Robin = riding daily on a different horse so that each horse is ridden the same amount of days on and off as the other horses. Deron and I started this when we had three riding horses, and once in a while rode Abby the Donkey in one of the horses places. Most often, just wearing a halter and just following us, Abby just went along with us, all over the prairie. Round Robins are great fun, Deron and I get to ride each of our horses (Although he never rode Missy, he always felt she was too small for him) and each of the horses is ridden by a different rider each time out.

Deron and I have taught a lot, a lot, of people to ride horses and ponies through the years. Nothing fancy, nothing extreme, just the basics of riding horses and having a good time. I know that if I could not have horses I would love for someone to invite me over to ride. So we try to do the same for others. This became very real to me when I was GIFTED two mares years ago in WI, in fact by Sharon, the same Sharon who helped us find, went and looked at, took them to get their vet papers and bill of health, the 2011 Horses. Those two mares headed Deron and I in the right direction for a whole lot of fun. If not for those two mares, it may have been yeeeears before I was mounted again. So I try to do the same, well, not giving them horses, but letting them ride with us, for others as well as giving the basic lessons to those that don't know how to ride and would otherwise probably not ever get to even sit on a live horse.

There is a 14 y/o girl out here that has been waiting for lessons for, gosh, too long. As soon as these horses are settled and we know what we have (we ride them a bit) Corrie and her step father Tom are the first ones on the list to come and ride/lessons.

I keep two Horse/Equine (now that we got Abby the Donkey) hand written Journals. When we got the horses, shot records, miles ridden, taught to do anything else and the like. I have not had time to keep them up. When I finish this page, when all the paperwork is in on the horses, I am just going to copy them and the fun emails about it all, and staple them to a page in the hand written journals.....and go from there.

My mother saved a lot of our stuff from when we were kids. I sure am glad she did. Two of the items she saved were a hoof pick that I had for my first pony when I was 8 y/o and the curry comb I had. Every horse that I have owned, and donkey, has had their hooves cleaned with that hoof pick. The curry comb. Long past use. My mother reminded me she had them when I got horses again in WI.

If you asked me which of these equine I was the most excited about, I would have to say that would be like asking me which of my human children are my favorite. Seriously. Each are for a different reason.

The donkey Casper is going to make a great companion for Abby. I am betting someone will ride him. We hope to teach him to drive and yes, really, Deron and I have donkey cart races across the prairie. We have that Pony Wagon that the two donkeys will look adorable pulling. Also. Would it not be fun, the last day of lessons to have burro/barrel races?!

I am thrilled that after these years Deron is going to own a horse again. One of his own. Working with a 2 year old is Deron's thing.

I am hoping/praying that Whinny is all that they say. She will be perfect for me and to use to put people on when they come out to visit. One I can use for Lessons and the one I will train for Medieval Games....oh yeah!

Lacey is the size I love. If she is really a "kid's horse" she will be a pleasure to ride out here on the prairie and fossil hunt. Deron and I like to get up early and ride an hour or so before starting the rest of our day.

The Pinto Pony. Oh the Pinto Pony. You know. If all she does is make me happy to look out at through the windows during the day (pasture flower) why not. We love to watch our horses in the afternoon. Love that they come up to the window and relax. And if she would throw a colt! All the better....and if that colt "had color"! WOW!

SAVE GAS - RIDE A HORSE!
Author Unknown

HONEST HARRY'S NEW & USED HORSES
I can save you money on gas!
Alright folks, step right up! You don't want to pay $4.69 for gas, no problem, I have the perfect vehicle for you. Needs no gas, no oil, or even a battery, just a little grass and water will do these animals fine. Now everyone has different needs, so choose from the following models:
1. Trail Horse - Your average run around town animal. Has the energy to get where you are going, the brain to find the best way to go, big enough to carry the normal sized American.
2. The Arabian - perfect for those who travel long distances in a day and try to multi task while driving. Although the Arabian may not go to your home or office with out specific instruction, it WILL go somewhere.
3. The Draft - Calling all soccer moms. This big guy can carry the whole team, their gear and snacks. Just like the big machines, this guy will require more fuel, and his shoes will be more expensive than the compact model.
4. The Western Pleasure - The right car for the high end white collar workers. This animal works harder and requires more special knowledge so only the best can figure this out. Be sure to take your cell phone. You won't be stuck in traffic, you just won't be getting anywhere fast.
5. The Parelli - Salesmen, stay at home moms, and high school kids will all enjoy this dream. You can load him down with flapping Wal-mart bags, ask him to walk in places a horse won't fit, and you can dance with him as you listen to the latest tunes.
6. The Ranch - The most dependable animal available. He will go where ever you ask him to, at whatever speed is appropriate. You can tie him to the stop sign and he will be there when you get back. Best of all, this model has been specially engineered to be able to go without water for days and stay fat and slick by eating sagebrush and dead prairie grass.
Of course all models are available in base colors (sorrel, bay, black) Special order colors are available (dun, gray, palomino) and for an additional fee, custom paint jobs are also available (overo, tobiano, blanket, leopard).
No horse is sold with a warranty, however maintenance plans are available in the event brakes, steering, or accelerator fail.

-- The Does My Butt Look Big In The Saddle Team
Fri, 23 Sep 2011 11:36:15 -0400